


Some Things Never Change

by Madness_of_Xara



Series: Shekarian ((Crystal Shepard)) [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Destruction Ending, F/M, Fluff, NSFW ch 2, Post-Mass Effect 3, SFW ch 1, reunited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-18 06:57:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8153074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madness_of_Xara/pseuds/Madness_of_Xara
Summary: In which Commander Crystal Shepard comes home to a still mourning Turian boyfriend.





	1. Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cat2170](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cat2170/gifts).



> A commission for Cat2170

It was a seemingly normal night in the Citadel, lights bright and yet dull amidst the darkness of the space that the Citadel resided in. With the sound emitters off, one could just sit back and watch the sky cars zoom by in silence. For some, it was a way to distress, to watch those cars fly by in the silence. For others, the silence made it easier to focus on other things, such as work, family… reminiscence…

Some memories deserved the silence to be remembered. It was only fair to them, after all.

It had been over two years since the end of the war against the Reapers. Things were only just beginning to return to normal. Well, as normal as it could be with so many lost, so many broken and barely falling to ruin. Even for those who had been hardened by the war, it never really felt the same. The old normal was definitely different from the new normal.

For some, the old normal that had been their lives before the war consisted of working normal jobs such as colonial development and selling merchandise and participating in politics. For most of them, after the war was over, they had their old normal lives back for the most part. For others, their old normal lives had consisted of fighting the Reapers and their husks, not to mention mercs and saving the galaxy.

They had no old lives to return to.

Just remnants, memories of a life that they only wished wouldn’t happen for anyone else ever again…

One such remnant was Commander Crystal Shepard, a human Alliance soldier and the first human Spectre.

“I still can’t believe that you’re gone, Shepard,” whispered a certain Turian with a heavy sigh. Garrus Vakarian had been a faithful companion, a loyal friend, and a dedicated boyfriend to Crystal, and due to that, he had been entitled her apartment on the Citadel, at least according to the old crew of the Normandy. He didn’t think he could live there at first, but after a while, it was a simple comfort. It was a place where he could be alone with his thoughts, even if only for a little while.

He could still smell Shepard’s scent, though very faint.

He was sitting in the living room of the apartment, holding a picture of Crystal in his hands. Though her image would always remain burned into his mind, he always found himself staring at her photograph, unable to pull his gaze away.

Not for very long, anyways.

Crystal had long, silver hair, the kind that one would have to brush for at least an hour before it could be considered ‘brushed out.’ In the picture, it was more full, more thick than usual, cupping her face beautifully, and there was a gorgeous blue rose tucked within the thick locks. She had beautiful silver eyes, ones that held years of pain and sorrow and yet also held unlimited amounts of determination. She had been looking straight at the camera when the picture had been taken, so there had been an undeniable sparkle to them.

She had been wearing a strapless silver dress in the picture, exposing the barely visible scar along her right shoulder. Garrus lightly grazed his fingers along the pictured scar, smiling weakly. He remembered that scar. She had gotten it in her brush against the Collectors at their base months before the Reaper invasion. It wasn’t the only one she had from over the years, but it was the only one that he could see in the picture.

The Turian remembered when he first met Crystal on the Citadel. It had been when Saren first had been rumored to have gone rogue. Garrus had not been sure as to how he really felt about her at the time other than the fact he had a good amount of respect for her. She had survived, alone, from childhood on Earth until she got older and joined the Alliance at eighteen years old. That wasn’t to mention her survival of a Thresher Maw attack on Akuze, the Sole Survivor of the Akuze Massacre.

Garrus remembered how he felt when he learned of her death after the Collector attack on the Normandy. At first, he had not believed it. After all, she had already survived so much in her life. But when Joker had confirmed her death, saying that he watched her get spaced saving him, there had been a shock to his system. She had left her mark, not only on him, but on everyone, and in more ways that one.

When Garrus saw Crystal again on Omega, that shock had returned, though only for a moment. He had then felt an overwhelming sense of relief, though for a multitude of reasons. Not only did that mean that he finally had some backup and hope for getting out of his sticky situation with the group of mercs, but Commander Crystal Shepard was alive again. When he learned that it was because of Cerberus that he had her back again, he couldn’t help but want to thank the Illusive Man. He didn’t because he, quite frankly, didn’t actually LIKE the Illusive Man, but for bringing back Crystal, he wanted to.

The first time they were ‘together,’ Garrus had been so scared. He had not wanted to mess up their first time together, and he especially didn’t want to mess up being with Crystal at all. He was afraid of doing something wrong, of scaring her off somehow. When she reassured him that it was okay to be nervous, he had relaxed and just allowed the night to guide them.

He honestly was scared that their being together had been a one time thing, but after seeing her on Palaven and rejoining her aboard the Normandy in order to fight against the Reapers, he was relieved to find that she had wanted something more substantial with him than a one night’s stand. When he lost her on Earth, it almost ruined him.

He had lost her not once, but twice.

With a heavy sigh, Garrus set the picture down on the coffee table before leaning back against the couch, closing his eyes. He needed to move on, he knew that, but… He just couldn’t.

Not yet.

DING DONG.

“Huh?” Garrus blinked in surprise, sitting up and turning to look at the door. Who could that be? Everyone had moved on for the most part, at least as far as he knew.

Jeff 'Joker’ Moreau had decided to continue flying the Normandy, but only after EDI had been rebuilt. She had been a vital asset to navigating the Normandy - and no, it wasn’t just because Joker totally had a thing with her (but it was completely because Joker totally had a thing with her). Samantha Taylor and Karin Chakwas stayed with him as well.

Kaiden Alenko remained on the Normandy as the acting captain - being around Crystal had seemingly rubbed off on him, so he was more than qualified for the position, especially since he was a Spectre. He took on the jobs that the Council presented him and completed them with ease.

James Vega had returned to Earth to help with reconstruction and to receive his N7 training. He often sent word to the various ex-members of the crew, letting them know how he was holding up and how he was trying a lot harder to live up to Crystal’s expectations. They kept telling him that he didn’t have to, but he insisted.

Liara had decided to travel a bit, going from planet to planet with short intervals to check the reports she got from her resources. Being the Shadow Broker was a tiring job, but it was one that Liara was more than willing to live with.

Tali had remained with the Flotilla, accepting her role as Admiral and helping with the construction of her peoples’ civilization on Rannoch’s surface. It was a slow process, but some of the

Quarians were already beginning to adjust to the planet’s environment by removing their masks every now and then and allowing their immune systems to build.

Like them, Garrus, too, had moved on from his former life, save for Crystal, and he was now working at C-Sec. So who could it have been?

He stood and walked over to the monitor, checking to see who it was. Who he saw shocked him.

No…

It couldn’t be.

She was DEAD!

Garrus gaped, feeling the slightest swell of hope rising in his chest. He quickly turned off the monitor and opened the door. Sure enough, there she was.

Commander Crystal Shepard, alive and in the flesh, with a big old smile drawn across her face. “It’s been a long time, Garrus,” she said. She was scarred beyond belief - more than likely a result of what happened on the Crucible, and she was seated in a wheelchair, wearing a black gown and boots. “Sorry I didn’t come home sooner.”

To say that Garrus was shocked was an understatement. After all, she had died! Or… rather, so he thought. “Shepard, I… I thought you were dead.”

Crystal smiled warmly at that, a gentleness in her eyes that she held only for him. “Yeah, well… I did, too, for a while.” She then spread her arms out beside her. “But here I am.”

Garrus trembled for a moment, his shock and sorrow and relief washing over him all at once. He then collapsed to his knees, wrapping his arms around her middle tightly. After all, he had missed her dearly. He felt Crystal wrap her arms around him in turn, warm tears dripping onto his fringe.

Her tears brought his own.

After a moment of this, Garrus sniffled and shakily stood, quickly wiping his eyes. He was Garrus Vakarian, the hated vigilante Archangel! He didn’t cry, no sire. Of course, he totally did, but if anyone accused him of it, he would firmly deny it. He smiled happily at Crystal, so much so that it actually hurt to do so. “Welcome home, Crystal… I tried to keep the place just as you left it.”

Crystal wiped her eyes and laughed softly. “It’s great to be home,” she said quietly.

The Turian chuckled and walked around behind her, taking hold of the handles to her wheelchair. “I missed you…” he whispered as he wheeled her inside. Suddenly, the apartment actually felt like home for once.

Before he could make it to the couch, which was where he was heading, Crystal lightly reached over and placed a hand on top of his own. “Can we lay down in bed, instead?” she asked him, turning and tilting her head some so that she could see his face.

Garrus blinked in surprise. “How come?”

Crystal smiled. “I want to lay down for a bit with you. It’s been a long time. Plus, my back is starting to hurt from sitting up so long.”

A smile crossed Garrus’s features. He nodded. “Okay.” Wheeling her beside the couch, he had her lock the wheels, going around the chair. He then had her wrap her arms around his neck, curling his arms under her upper back and under her knees, lifting her from the chair. She was lighter than he remembered her being. Then, he proceeded up the stairs to the second floor of their apartment, holding her close. Her radiating heat was a welcomed thing.

Once upstairs, he brought Crystal to the bedroom, laying her down along the mattress before joining her. He smiled, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close while his other arm went under his head, supporting it. “How did you survive all those years ago? When they went through the Crucible, they said what was left was nothing but rubble…”

Crystal laughed some, a soft, cheery sound. Oh, Garrus realized just how much he had missed that laugh over the years. “You know me, Garrus. I’m hard to kill,” she said jokingly. When she saw how Garrus didn’t laugh, she sighed some, laying her head on his chest. “I have no clue. I just woke up in a hospital one day, got told I was a hero, and I got chewed out by Joker for destroying EDI before she told him to stand down.”

“Wait, Joker knew-?”

“I made him stay quiet about it,” Crystal said instantly. “Liara, too. There was still a big chance that I wouldn’t make it out of the hospital with as bad as my injuries were.”

“Just how bad were they?” Garrus asked a little nervously.

“Bad enough,” Crystal replied, seeming a little dodgy about the question. “I… I was scared. I was actually scared that I wasn’t going to make it. I’ve been through a lot, but there was no way I should have survived that explosion…” She then looked up at Garrus. “I was in a coma for six months after the end of the war… In intensive care and rehabilitation ever since. They just let me out not too long ago…”

“How long ago?”

“About… ten hours ago.”

Garrus’s eyes went wide at that. Ten hours ago…? “What were you doing during those ten hours?”

“Looking for you,” she admitted. She averted her gaze. “I wanted to come and see you first. Well, that, and get some actual food in my stomach.” She scrunched up her nose. “Hospital food isn’t exactly the greatest thing to eat.” She then shook her head. “Liara got to me first. Guess the doctors promised to alert her when I was out. She was beyond happy to see me… She was the one who paid for my lunch, by the way. She filled me in on what happened since I went MIA.” She smiled at Garrus. “Thanks for being easy to find this time.”

Garrus snorted some, shaking his head and holding the woman tighter in his arms. “I wish someone would have told me about you being alive sooner… I would have planned a party.”

“We can still do that… Just not right now,” smiled Crystal, grateful that Garrus wasn’t upset with her in regards to her keeping her status of being alive a secret. She then sighed some, smiling meekly. “I’m really glad that you didn’t move on… Even though I was sure you had…”

“Move on from you? Why would I?” Garrus asked her softly. He then nuzzled the top of her head with his mandible. “You may have been gone all this time, but I just couldn’t bring myself to accept that you were gone. Not yet.” He brushed his lips against her cheek, his mandible fluttering gently against her skin. “Not yet…” He then leaned in closer, brushing his lips against her own.

Crystal felt her breath catch in her throat at his actions, gingerly returning the kiss, cupping his cheeks. The two shared a heated kiss for a moment before she let out an alarmed squeak, being rolled over and on top of him. “G-Garrus!”

“What?” chuckled the male. He leaned up and nuzzled her neck. “I can’t help that I want to have a better vantage point.” He placed his hands on her hips some, a warm smile on his lips. “I love you, Commander Shepard.”

Cyrstal smiled warmly, tilting her head to the side some. "And I you, Garrus Vakarian."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lemon chapter!!

Garrus kissed her sweetly, closing his eyes. After a moment, he pulled away, smiling warmly up at Crystal with a tender look. “Just how much can you feel from the waist down? With the wheelchair and all…?” he asked her softly. He didn’t really know human anatomy that well, but if he had to guess, she probably couldn’t feel much.

“I can still feel pretty well… It’s just that I can’t really move them,” Crystal told him. “It’s part of my recovery process…”

Nodding, Garrus cupped her cheek, rubbing her cheek bone with the pad of his thumb. He then leaned up and kissed her once again, closing his eyes as he focused on trying to give her his all. The longer they kissed, the more passionate the kiss became, the more heated it was. Bit by bit, clothing was coming off of the both of them, slowly revealing inch by inch of their flesh. Where their clothing went, it didn’t matter. Not at the moment anyways. When he pulled away, Garrus took in Crystal’s naked body, noting each and every dip, each and every scar…

His fingers delicately touched her scars, marveling at them. “So beautiful…” he whispered softly. “So soft…” More and more compliments came from his lips, and with each one, Crystal became increasingly more and more flustered. When he looked up and noticed, he couldn’t help but chuckle some in amusement. Wrapping his arms around her, he delicately rolled them over so that he was on top of her. Now that he had mapped out every scar with his fingers, he started to work on kissing each and every single one of them, going from top to bottom along her body.

“I knew I missed this, but I didn’t realize just how _badly_ ,” Garrus whispered against her skin, his eyes closed in concentration. “I missed how soft and squishy your flesh was, how firm your muscles were… How you have this faint yet noticeable scent of… what do you humans call them? Right… Lotus flowers... I missed every bit of this, every bit of _you_ …” He then opened his eyes and looked up at Crystal with a warm and tender smile. “I missed _you_ , Crystal…”

The backs of her fingers were delicate as they brushed against his mandible, which fluttered slightly in response to her touch. “And I missed you, Garrus…” the woman whispered. “Even though I was in a coma the whole time… I had been waiting in the bar for too long, I guess.” She giggled softly, faintly. “That was what I dreamed about. Waiting at the bar up in Heaven for you to come so that we could split a drink and meet up with Mordin after a while…”

Garrus smiled at that. He was glad that she held her promise to wait for him, even if it was only in a dream. “Seeing him again after all this time… I bet he would love to know that the Krogan are a lot happier knowing what he did for them.” He kissed his way up her stomach. “We’ll be sure to tell him all about it when we see him… For now, it’s just you and me here…” He then planted a soft kiss on her lips, stroking her cheek in the same way she had done to him. He found that she loved his gentle touch, feeling her arch her back ever so slightly in response. When he pulled away, she was looking up at him with longing, silver eyes.

“Garrus…” she whispered softly, cupping his cheek. She then leaned up and whispered in a hot and needy voice, “Take me… Please…”

For a moment, Garrus was a little stunned. They usually just went with the flow, just allowed themselves to get lost in their actions with one another, but in this moment, this instant… But her pleading for it… It brought something akin to a blush to his cheeks. He nodded once, kissing her gently once again. His hands trailed down along her body, finally resting on her thighs. Delicately, he pulled them apart, exposing her sex to the chilled air of the room.

It caused a shudder to roll through the woman’s body.

Garrus licked his lips some, slowly beginning to leave a trail of kisses along her body, going lower and lower until he rested between her thighs. He looked up at her, spreading her lips. He then closed his eyes, burying his mouth against her, giving her some well-deserved love.

A shaky gasp escaped Crystal’s mouth, her eyes going wide before clenching shut. She worried at her bottom lip, her whole body trembling as she clawed at the bed sheets, fisting them tightly in her hands. Her head thrashed back and forth, whimpers and muffled moans escaping her throat and from trembling breaths. She whispered pleadingly to Garrus the moment he slipped his fingers inside of her, begging him to hurry. She was going crazy from what he was doing to her. When he hit her g-spot, she cried out, her hips thrashing and bucking roughly. “G-Garrus…!” she gasped out.

When he removed his fingers from inside of her, she whimpered, her chest rising and falling rapidly. He sat up and kissed her on the lips, lining himself up along her entrance. “Are you ready?” he whispered against her lips.

Wrapping her arms around his head, Crystal kissed him roughly.

Garrus took that as yes and slowly started to push inside of her. She moaned shakily against his lips, panting some. With every inch, their combined confidence grew, their hands beginning to roam along one another’s bodies, Crystal’s soft and scarred, Garrus’s tough and yet soft. Once he was fully inside of her, he began to thrust in and out of her, slow and steady at first before beginning to get rougher and faster. Pushing her legs back against her chest, the Turian began to thrust deeper inside of her, as well. The longer he went, the more he was driven by her moans, encouraged by her soft whispers of please and more.

“Sh-shit…” whispered Garrus. “I-I’m close…”

“M-me, too,” whispered Crystal. “W-with me…?”

“Of course.” He kissed her, breathing heavily through his nose. They pulled away as they climaxed together, moaning out one another’s names. After a moment, they relaxed, panting softly and happily. They smiled at one another, exchanging soft kisses, both with their lips and with their noses. Garrus slowly pulled out of her, collapsing on his back beside her. Crystal rolled over and cuddled him happily, sighing.

“I hope that you don’t get sick or something,” Garrus said softly, wrapping an arm around her.

“Hmm? Why?”

“What was it that Mordin said back before the Collectors? ‘Don’t ingest?’”

“…Crap. Help me wash it out?”

Garrus chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “Yeah… I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Crystal said with a smile. She slowly sat up some. “But that doesn’t mean you can escape your orders.”

They were silent for a moment before they started laughing, hugging and kissing one another. As Garrus picked her up and took her to go get cleaned up, they both knew one thing for certain – they had one another, and they always would. Especially now that they weren’t going to have to do anymore suicide missions.

They wouldn’t allow it to happen, not ever again.


End file.
